Cowboys go all-in by trading top pick for Amari Cooper

The Cowboys (3-4) traded a 2019 first-round pick to the Raiders for wideout Amari Cooper, Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said Monday, giving Dallas a top threat at wide receiver.

The Raiders, meanwhile, have been a mess since Jon Gruden took over, so bringing in a potential high pick will go a long way.

The deal comes with the Cowboys struggling to make big plays in the passing game with quarterback Dak Prescott, and a few months after they released franchise touchdown catch leader Dez Bryant in a cost-cutting move.

Cooper was the fourth overall pick by the Raiders out of Alabama three years ago. He started his career with consecutive 1,000-yard seasons and had two 100-yard games this season, but had just two targets and one catch since the second of those games.

Dallas receivers have just one 100-yard game combined through seven games, by Cole Beasley in a Week 6 win over Jacksonville.

Amari Cooper. (John Hefti / AP)

The 24-year-old Cooper — five years younger than Bryant — was placed in the concussion protocol after leaving Oakland's last game against Seattle on Oct. 14.

For Gruden, dealing his most accomplished receiver doesn't compare to the preseason trade that sent two-time All-Pro pass rusher Khalil Mack to Chicago. But it is another example of the Raiders (1-5) looking to the future.

Oakland figures to have a good shot at the No. 1 overall pick in 2019, and now has three first-rounders with the Cooper trade. Cooper has 3,183 yards and 19 touchdowns in three-plus seasons.

It's not the first time Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones has made a big trade for a former top-10 pick at receiver, and the other two attempts didn't go well.

In 2000, Jones sent two first-round picks to Seattle for Joey Galloway before the first of three straight 5-11 seasons. Galloway, drafted eighth overall by the Seahawks in 1995, didn't have a 1,000-yard season in four years with the Cowboys.

About this time 10 years ago, the Cowboys got Roy Williams from Detroit for three draft picks, including a first-rounder. The former Texas standout's first season with Dallas was his best, with 596 yards receiving and seven touchdowns.

The Cowboys made the playoffs once in two-plus seasons with Williams, in 2009, when they won the franchise's first postseason game since the last of five Super Bowl victories following the 1995 season. Williams was drafted seventh overall by the Lions in 2004.